I alsolutely feel that one can, because I am trans and I am not dysphoric. About my gender or body, anyway. I suppose I am somewhat dysphoric about the lack of imagination in the world when it comes to gender, though. I've mostly let go of my expectations that everyone will see things the way I do. I'm perfect the way I am, and so are y'all, regardless of your identity or what you decide to do with you bodies! Happy holidays!

The problem with the "trans but not dysphoric" idea is that when you look at it more closely, it boils down to this: feeling that the social role of the other sex is more appropriate for oneself.

Now, why would any female-bodied person have a deep=seated sense of feeling more at home in the male social role? Because the female one is limiting, disadvantageous in all kinds of ways both big and small, and just generally sucks. If you don't like any of the more "neutral" trappings that go along with it, like pink stuff and the assumption that you like bubble baths and are obsessed with chocolate, it sucks to the nth degree.

I used to have alot of dysphoria associated with my sex not coinciding with my 'gender identity.' When I started living full time as male, my dysphoria lessened. As people started treating me as what I felt 'inside', I started to not even consider my body as an importance or as the determiner for who I felt I really was. I look very gender neutral already, though, so that could be a big reason why my dysphoria is under control now.

I feel content physically, now that I have worked on who I am mentally and emotionally. Especially with the support of my friends and family. Most of my friends already considered me as male even before I came out. So.. I really do not feel a need for T at this time.

Thanks, Blue. I remember reading about Brandon's murder in the NY Times shortly after it happened. There's a pretty wide discrepancy between the events as they were reported at the time, and what was depicted in Boys Don't Cry. Of course, that's poetic license for you, but a lot of people don't seem to understand that that movie is a work of fiction. Based on true events, yes, but heavily fictionalized. It represents one person's speculation about what really happened, and it has a heavier trans spin that the known facts seem to warrant.

Interestingly, Brandon was not immediately claimed as a trans martyr in 1993. That took a few more years. The reaction at the time was that she had been the victim of homophobic violence, which may be closer to the truth.

Im sure some people may, but personally i find the way my chest is now to be vulgur.And not just for me, for anyone. I'm not a fan in general. Who wants to be a proud milk machine. Are you kidding me?The lower half i'm fine with, i could care less, i'll never even pack.

I'm neither gender. I'm Trans. I'm not a man or woman. the ideal body to me is that of a mans, and female genatalia.

I find no need for unsed fat, big hips and thighs in the same way i find no need to parade around this hanging member in between ones legs.

That somehow seems right to you? Haven't you ever stopped to wonder why it is just your chest and nothing else?

Especially in a male-dictated society where a woman's breasts are made out in that fashion...

[And not just for me, for anyone. I'm not a fan in general.]

So not being a fan of things means that we remove them? Would you honestly rather that nobody had breasts at all?

As I gave my own situation time to stew on hormones, I realized that having a high maintenance, faux vagina wasn't what I needed to be myself. Perhaps you should give your body a chance, rather than hating on it.

[Who wants to be a proud milk machine. Are you kidding me?]

By proud milk machine, I'd imagine you mean being a mother. If that's the case, I would and I'm not kidding. I would kill to be in your position, and your words are a very degrading way of putting it. Every woman's birthright is that she can create and sustain life, whereas men have a habit of destroying it.

"This is contradictory. Neither gender/sex is an androgyne, not a transsexual; being transsexual means that you plan to switch over from one gender to the other."

I really have to question this. In my opinion, the most important question is whether medical treatments are likely to make someone's dysphoria better or worse in the long run.

I think there's too much pressure to be more trans - to start hating one's hair, or breasts, or genitals, instead of to try to accept them. I think that insisting on the binary tends to reinforce that pressure. Of course, you're right that testosterone makes it harder for someone to stay androgynous, and that hormones have unpredictable effects.

You may have got more from the comment than I intended. It was meant to show her that what she thinks is transsexual isn't even transsexual at all. Being androgynous is more a state of mind than anything, because a duck that acts and thinks like a duck will still be thought of as a duck. She's taking physiological androgyny to an extreme.

[the most important question is whether medical treatments are likely to make someone's dysphoria better or worse in the long run.]

I have often wondered at the real answer to this question of long-term satisfaction myself. The elder transsexuals say that it is the case, but is it really? For me, it seems to be much ado about nothing. I can participate as a woman without surgically customizing myself, and I have realized that is all I really desire.

[I think there's too much pressure to be more trans -]

That's because of how grouped up transsexuals tend to work. Gender roles and ideals are deeply entrenched in everything they do. To give an example, I have been told to straighten my curly locks by people on four different transsexual websites. They're so distinctive that Dirt's first response to a recent picture of me was, "Is your hair naturally that curly?" Needless to say, I'm not straightening my hair anytime soon.

[I think that insisting on the binary tends to reinforce that pressure.]

It is the unfortunate reality of our situation than anything. Society makes no allowances for anything outside of that binary, so I made my choice to side with the female half of that. Where many transsexuals can go wrong is in thinking that they must live the gender roles, rather than just choose a side and be themselves.

I, in fact, AM a proud milk machine. I'm breastfeeding right now as I type. My woman's body has created 5 new bodies and my breasts have sustained their bodies and souls. This is sacred and beautiful NOT vulgar. In most cultures it has been the inspiration for great Art. But in North America the formula companies have spent billions and billions of dollars over the last 75 years or so to convince everyone, women included that their bodies are disgusting if they DO breastfeed but more likely defective and unable to breastfeed. The hatred aimed at women's breasts is plain in a culture that deems them acceptable only if surgically altered and used ONLY for the sexual gratification of adult men. Even lesbians are being denied the breast because they're being told they have to bind them to be "manly". I am SO sick of the mother-hatred in this society. Really, it is the foundation of EVERYTHING that is wrong in our society because it destroys womens' ability to effectively mother and foster peaceful emotionally healthy children. and it causes young women to HATE their beautiful powerful life-giving breasts!

The reason I consider myself trans is not because I don't want to be a "human milk machine" ??? Whatever.. that is? My sister breastfeeds her little one.. my mother breastfed me and I don't consider them "milkmachines". Thats so silly. I identify as male because I identify as male and always have. It's not because I disrespect women or their bodies. My sister is a strong, powerful individual, and my mother is also a powerful, strong willed woman. So.. I don't get what that ftm was trying to say.

With respect, Notebook, what does this mean? If you don't have body dysphoria, why do you identify as male? "Male" is just a matter of body. Our society has then associated certain personality traits with "male" (chivalry, bravery, honesty, etc.) and if you like those traits it doesn't make you male, much like if you are indomable it doesn't make you a horse.I have always liked eagles and steppe horses because they are symbols of freedom. Yet, I'm not a "horse inside".

Blue, I stated this before in recent posts; I live as male comfortably without having to change anything. I think this is why my dysphoria is low. Being dysphoric was worse for me when I was not living as how I felt I identified. If I couldn't pass, I might have a higher dysphoria.

But being trans for me may be different to other transmen. I've felt like a "boy" ever since childhood the same, yes, but I guess I see the opportunity for a learning experience. To live feeling like a man trapped in a womans body. Whatever that means to me or anyone else, it's something I've always felt and it will never go away. I feel like changing myself, I would only be patching over the physical, when the mental and the emotional is so much more powerful and matters so much more. I've developed my personality, my emotions, my relationships. I feel no need to convince anyone I am a man by surgically removing anything.